While designs for new dorms continue to dominate campus discussion, one can’t lose sight of the ways — major and minor — in which current residential life could be bolstered.

Alumni Square, a collection of apartments housing mostly sophomores and juniors, provides the four residents of a unit with just one shared mailbox, as do university-owned townhouses. This set up is problematic on two counts. For one, it removes the privacy for one’s mail correspondence. Whether it contains a mailed paycheck from an employer or a credit card bill, mailboxes are often full of personal information. Second, it increases the risk for potential mail theft or loss. The Office of Housing and Facilities should move to implement individual mailboxes for each resident in these housing situations.

While it may seem like the same risk of mail theft and lack of privacy would apply to students living in off-campus townhouses — most of which come with communal mailboxes — students living in campus-owned housing are more prone to mail theft because of the prevalence of random rooming assignments in non-senior apartments. While those in off-campus housing typically handpick their roommates, students in Alumni Square or in university townhouses frequently end up with one or several roommates whom they have never met.

All other apartment-style campus-owned housing, be it Henle Village, Nevils or Village A, provide individual mailboxes for their residents. It’s time the rest of housing got the message.